Bitcoin broke through the $90,000 resistance level on Wednesday, surging past $93,000 as U.S. markets opened, signaling strong demand from American investors. The cryptocurrency had faced resistance at the $90,000 mark earlier this week but managed to push through during U.S. morning hours. The price accelerated further once the breakthrough occurred, reflecting continued buying pressure.
This significant move coincided with the opening of U.S. traditional markets at 9:30 am ET, indicating that American investors were behind the upward momentum. The Coinbase Premium Index, a key metric for gauging U.S. demand, spiked to 0.2, the highest level since April, according to CryptoQuant data. This index measures the price difference between Bitcoin on Coinbase—where many U.S. investors and institutions trade—and Binance, the global exchange with the highest trading volume.
While it’s not immediately clear which specific market participants are driving the buying, U.S.-listed bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have seen strong trading activity. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT), the largest spot bitcoin ETF with $40 billion in assets, traded approximately $1.2 billion in its first hour of trading, making it the fourth-most traded ETF on the market, according to Barchart data.
At the time of writing, bitcoin had retraced slightly, trading around $92,200. The cryptocurrency had risen nearly 7% over the past 24 hours, outperforming the broader CoinDesk 20 Index, which gained 3.5%. Other cryptocurrencies, such as ether (ETH) and solana (SOL), saw gains of 1.6% and 2.7%, respectively, during the same period.
The rally has been fueled by spot buying, with the Spot Cumulative Volume Delta (CVD) showing a significant net positive volume, indicating that the buying activity is predominantly from buyers rather than sellers. Each surge in CVD has coincided with price increases, suggesting that this rally is more sustainable as it is driven by spot market demand rather than futures-based speculation, according to CoinDesk analyst James Van Straten.
